(1) Centre for Atom Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, 3122, Australia
Abstract:
Taking the view that computation is after all physical, we argue that physics, particularly quantum physics, could help extend
the notion of computability. Here, we list the important and unique features of quantum mechanics and then outline a quantum
mechanical “algorithm” for one of the insoluble problems of mathematics, the Hilbert's tenth and equivalently the Turing halting
problem. The key element of this algorithm is the computability and measurability of both the values of physical observables and of the quantum-mechanical probability distributions for these values.